Software
Taming Firefox’s places.sqlite: A Weekend Performance Breakthrough
A bored-weekend side project turned into a tiny masterclass in database design. I rebuilt a “works-for-now” importer into a set-based, transactional loader and dropped runtime from 4 hours to under 10 seconds for 300k+ rows – on an average NVMe host with MariaDB. Same machine, same data, different architecture. Here’s the story, the thinking, and just enough code.
by Sven Reifschneider • 24 September 2025
Thoughts
I Didn't Disappear. I Rebuilt.
For the past few months, I’ve been quiet — at least on the outside. But it wasn’t a break. It was a deliberate restructuring. Of how I think, how I work, how I operate in the world. And who I’ve now become because of it.
by Sven Reifschneider • 06 August 2025
Interests
Tracing Ancestry with Artificial Intelligence
Genealogy can be a fascinating yet challenging hobby. Especially when dealing with old, hard-to-read documents, one quickly reaches their limits. But modern Artificial Intelligence offers us new possibilities to uncover even the last secrets of our family history.
by Sven Reifschneider • 27 August 2024
Stories
In the Shadow of the Jungle: The Discovery of Red Pandas
My last expedition was about discovering this unique place, meeting its inhabitants, and the profound changes they've brought into our lives. It's the story of a community that, despite its uniqueness, shows deep connection with us and demonstrates how valuable cooperation and a shared pursuit of knowledge can be.
by Sven Reifschneider • 16 June 2023